Furniture construction.



S. G MENZO. FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26. 1918.

Patented July 16, 1918* 2 SHEETS-SHEET! S. G. MENZO.

FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION.

AFPLlCATlON FILED FEB-26,1918.

Patented July 16, 1918.

2 SHEETSSH EET 2.

MENzo,

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' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SALVATORE G zzo a subjectof the King of Italy, re-' siding at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements-in Furniture Construction, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in furniture construction and has for its object to provide a device of this character which may be of any desirable size, design, construction or form such as side boards, bufl'ets, roll-top or fiat desks or other similar pieces of furniture wherein the table portion may be projected to roduce an extension table, but which w en closed or collapsed will resemble the piece of furniture after the form of which it is constructed. I

Anotherobject of the invention is to provide leaf elements of a piece of furniture of unique construction, a number of which is utilized to produce an extension table, said leaf elements bein other by means of exible straps of any de sirable material, each of said straps being attached to each leaf element at a single point adjacent one edge of the leaf element so that when the device is collapsed, closed or contracted the different leaf elements lie upon one another in a relatively may small space in the form of a cabinet or housing.

A further object of the invention is to provide in combination a cabinet for containing a number of leaves flexibly fastened together which is fastened one end of the extension table made up of said leaves, said cabinet also having suitable supporting means con- -nected therewith which is housed in said supplementary cabinet when the device is closed and which will be removed therefrom and pro sion tab e moved away fromthemain cabinet.

With these ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claims. I 'V J In order that those sln'lled in? the art' to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use-the same I will descrfialits' construction in de ail referrin Specification of Letters Patent.

connected with eachand a supplementary cabinet to erly positioned beneath the exten-' as said supplementary cabinet is parts being broken away to clearly illustrate the construction.

Fig. 2, is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the main cabinet illustrating the different positions assumed by the leaves in being removed from or replaced in the cabinet with arts broken away-to Illustrate certain detalls of the construction.

- 'F'ig. 3, is an enlarged transverse sectional view of one of the leaves on the line of one of the tongues and grooves, and

Fig. 4, is a similarview on the line of one of the transverse slots.

In carrying out my invention as hereembodiedQ represents a cabinet which may be of any suitable design, configuration, size or form and more particularly includes a backwall 3, a front wall 4,, side walls 5, an inclined bottom wall 6 and a top wall 7 spaced from the upper edge of the front wall't to "provide an opening or assage way 8 for the leaves ofthe extension table or extension top.

Within the cabinets are located suitable uprights or bafiie members 9, the upper end Patented July 16, 1918. Application filed February 26,1918. Serial Illo. 219,190.

of which terminates short of the top wall ofthe cabinet and the upper ends of said; members are beveled inward and downward as at 10 and said members are secured to'the back wall of the cabinet with their exposed faces preferably covered with a suitable soft material such as felt 11 so as to deaden the sound and prevent the leaves of the-extension top or table from becoming scratched or otherwise marred and the back wall 3 of the cabinet is also preferably covered with suitable soft material such as felt indicated by the numeral 12. 7

Within the cabinet adjacent the passage way 8 and preferably attached to the front wall and side walls at each end of the cabinet is located a guide block 13. having an arcuate upper edge 14'and these guide blocks roject rearwardly to a point short of an imaginary line projected upwardly from the front edges of the bafile members 9, so that the leaves ofthe extension table or top, as theyjenter the cabinet will be permitted to gradually descend and finally hang in a v91! tical osition 'at which time'said leaves will ass own the faces of the bafile members,

ut when one leaf is in a horizontal position the next succeeding leaf is resting upon the guide blocks in an-inclined position so that said succeeding leaf will have to pass inward some distance before it takes a horizontal position and this inward movement will cause the lower edge of the leaf which is hangin in a horizontal position to .rest upon the inclined upper edges of the baffle members 9 and be guided thereby toward the front of the cabinet until the leaf which is resting upon the guide blocks has moved or entered the cabinet a suflicient distance to permit the hangin leaf to rest upon the preceding leaf as p ainly shown in Fig. 2.

The extension table or top designated by the numeral 15 comprises any suitable number-of relatively narrow leaves 16 which may also be of any desired length that will permit their entrance into the cabinet through the passage way 8. The longitudinal or meeting edges of the leaves are beveled as at 17 so that said edges are parallel and the front edge of each leaf is beveled inward and upward while the rear edge is beveled inward and downward to be parallel therewith. Adjacent each end of each leaf is formed atransverse slot or channel 18 and when in use the slots or channels of all the leaves at the same end are adapted to aline and from one edge preferably the front edge of each leaf projects a pair of tongues 19 which are adapted to register with suitable grooves 20 of the adjacent leaf, said grooves 20 being formed in the rear edges of each leaf. All of the leaves which are in use to make up the extension table or top are connected together by flexible straps 21 of any suitablematerial such as leather or a textile fabric and these straps lie in the slots or channels and each strap is attached to each leaf at one point only which'is adjacent the forward edges of the leaves by some suitable means 22 such as for instance, a small screw as here shown,

The forward or outermost leaf is fastened in some suitable manner to the supplementary or movable cabinet 23 opened at the rear, so that when said supplementary or movable cabinet is drawn away om the main cabinet, the leaves will be withdrawn from the main cabinet to form the extension table or top and in order to sup port said extension table or top a suitable trestle work is provided which consists of the ordinary and well known extension table slides 24 each succeeding one of which is located inside the preceding one so that they will collapse or slide within one another to produce a compact construction. which will occupy a very small amount of space when the device is closed. When a pair of these erly braced by a cross piece 25 while every other pair of the other slides are secured to cross rails26 to each end of which is 218. tened a leg 27 all of the legs on each side being in alinement so that when the device is closed, said legs and their cross rails as well as the slides will nest in the supplementary or movable cabinet 23 and since these parts will take up a relatively small amount of space in the supplementary cabinet the unoccupied. space of said cabinet may-be utilized as a closet or drawers may be arranged therein according to the form of the artlcle of furniture produced or the desires of the user. a

In order that the legs and their cross rails will be properly disposed or positioned bethe number of leaves in use, I rovide a set of lazy tons 28 one end of whic is attached to the cross member 25 and the other end to some suitable part of the supplementary cabinet 23 while where the different mem bers that make up the lazy tongs cross each other, they are pivoted to the different cross rails 26 as plainly shown in Fig. 1.

Presuming the device to be in a closed position then when it is desired to utilize the same as a table the supplementary or movable cabinet 23 is drawn away from the main cabinet 2 causing the leaves to be withdrawn from the interior of the main cabinet through the passage way 8 and as said supplementary cabinet is moved outward the legs 27 are withdrawn from said supplementary cabinet with the leaves resting upon the slides 24 thereby properly supporting said leaves to produce a well braced and substantial top.

As the different leaves pass over the guide blocks 13, the tongues 19 of the succeeding leaves will register with the grooves 20 of the preceding leaves so that when the device is in an opened or extended position said leaves will be locked together to prevent lengthwise movement of said leaves relative to each other which will keep the ends of all the hay es in proper alinement.

In order to close the device it is only necessary to move the supplementary or movable cabinet 23 toward the main cabinet 2 causing the leaves to enter said main cabinet through the passage way 8 at which 1,272,983 a is rests upon the precedin this action of the succee 'ng leaf will cause the loose portions of the straps between the outer or rear edge of the preceding leaf to fold upon themselves as lainly shown and when the succeeding leaf takes its position upon the first or preceding leaf both la ers of the folded portions of the straps wil lie within the slots 01'. channels of the succeeding leaf so that the under face of the succeeding leaf rests upon the upper face of the receding leaf.

T 's action takes place with each leaf as it enters the cabinet with the possible exception of the last two or the two adjacent the supplementary cabinet and 'in this case the one attached-to the supplementary cabinet wi-ll rest upon the guide blocks while the next preceding leaf'will be suspended there-. from and during this action of closing the device, the slides 24 will collapse or slide within .one another until the cross rails 26 and the legs 27 contact with each other and.

when in this position, said slides, cross rails and legs will be entirely inclosed in the supplementary cabinet 23 While said supplemen tary cabinet will be in close relation to the main cabinet so as to represent or produce the desired form of article of furniture and the parts of the extension table or top be entirely hidden from view.

Of course I do not wish to be limitedto the exact details of construction as herein shown as these may be limited within the limits of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and patentable 1s:-

1. In a device of the character stated the combination of a cabinet including front, back and side walls, an inclined bottom and a to spaced from the upper end of the front wal to form a passage way, vertical baflle members having inclined upper ends secured to the back wall within the cabinet and terminating short of the top wall, a guide block located at each end of the interior of the cabinet adjacent the passage way, said guide blocks having arcuate upper surfaces with the ends terminating short of the back wall, a covering of soft material on the back wall. and edges of the baffle members, a supplementary cabinet open at the rear, a plurality of leaves attached together by flexible means to form extension top, one end of which is secure to the supplementary cabinet With the other end free to pass into and out of the main cabinet through the passage way, supporting means for the extension top adapted to be housed in the supplementary cabinet when the device is closed and means for positioning said supporting means beneath the extension top when the device is opened,

or first leaf and,

will I 2. In a device of the character stated the combination of a cabinet including front,

bers, a supplementary cabinet open at, the

rear, an extension top comprising a plurality of leaves each having a transverse slot or channel adjacent each end, provided with grooves in one e projecting from the opposite edge, the

tongues of leaves adapted to/register with dge and having tongues the grooves of coacting or adjacent leaves and flexible straps for attaching said leaves together, said straps lying in the transverse slots or channels and fastened at one point to each leaf adjacent one edge thereof, one end of said extension top being secured to the supplementary cabinet with the other end free to pass into and out of the main cabinet throughthe passageway and means for supporting said extension top in its ex tended position.

3. In a device of the character stated the combination of a cabinet including front, back and side walls, an inclined bottom and a top spaced from the upper end of the front wall to form a passageway, vertical bafiie members having inclined upper ends secured to the back wall within the cabinet and terminating short of the top wall, a guide block located at each end of the interior of the cabinet adjacent the passageway, said guide blocks having arcuate upper surfaces with the ends terminating short of the back wall,

'a covering of soft material on the back wall and edges of the bafile members, a supplementary cabinet open at the rear, an extension top comprising a plurality of leaves each having a transverse slot or channel adjacent each end, provided with grooves in one edge and having tongues projecting from the oppositeedge, the tongues of leaves adapted to register with the grooves of coacting or adjacent leaves and flexible straps for attaching said leaves together, said straps lying in the transverse slots or channels and fastened at one oint to each leaf adjacent one edge thereo one end of said extension top being secured to the supplementary cablnet with the other end free to pass into and out of the main cabinet through the passageway, slides on which the extension top rests when extended, said slides being collapsible with the end ones attached to their respective cabinet, cross rails fastened to certain of said slides, a le at each end of each cross rail, all of sai legs being in alinement and a lazy ton p1v.- oted to each cabinet and to the di erent cross rails for positioning the legs, cross rails and the slides.

4. An article of furniture comprising a cabinet including an inclined bottom wall, a plurality of leaves each havin a transverse channel adjacent each en flexible straps for connecting said leaves together, said straps lying in the grooves and being attached to each leaf at one point adjacent the forward edge, whereby when the leaves enter the cabinet the portionsof each strap underlying each leaf will fold upon themselves to permit each succeeding leaf to lie flat upon each preceding leaf with the double layers of the straps ying in the channels and means carried by one edge of each leaf and coactin with the meeting edge of the adjacent lea to lock said leaves against cndwise movement. a

5. 'In furniture construction, an extension top comprisin a pluralit of leaves with co- .acting paralle beveled e ges, each leaf having a transverse channel in its under face ad acent each end and provided with interlocking means along its beveled edges and flexible straps lying in said channels and secured to each leaf at one point adjacent one edge whereby said leaves may be laid on top of "one another with all top faces upward, the free'portions of the straps under each leaf folding upon themselves and passaround one ed e of each leaf as shown.

En testimony w ereof, I have hereunto aflixed my signature. I

SALVATORE GUZZO MENZO. 

